More than 54,000 people were moved to safer ground in the Philippine capital and nearby provinces, while calls for help swamped social media as monsoon rain triggered floods reminiscent of Typhoon Ketsana, which killed hundreds of people in Metro Manila in 2009.
Marikina City implemented forced evacuations affecting at least 21,000 people after its river, the catch basin of water flowing from the mountains, reached critical level. In nearby Rizal province, 19,000 people were moved. “The…
Thai child bride returns from Malaysia after outcry
An 11-year-old child bride returned to Thailand this week after widespread outrage over her marriage to a Malaysian man 30 years her senior, an official said on Saturday.
Malaysian Muslims below the age of 16 are allowed to wed with the permission of religious courts but the union between the girl and the 41-year-old trader went viral on social media and reignited calls to end child marriage.
The ceremony took place in June over the border in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south in Narathiwat…
What Widodo’s pick for veep says about Indonesian politics
As a practising Muslim from a traditional Javanese heartland, President Joko Widodo’s Islamic credentials should be beyond question.
But after years of battling sectarian politics and repeated attacks on the strength of his religious beliefs, Indonesia’s leader has joined forces with an Islamic cleric and figurehead of the world’s largest Muslim organisation in an effort to win re-election.
The man, universally known as “Jokowi”, ended months of speculation on…
Earthquake lifted Indonesian island of Lombok by 10cm, aftershocks continue
Scientists say the powerful Indonesian earthquake that killed more than 300 people lifted the island it struck by as much as 25cm.
Using satellite images of Lombok from the days following the August 5 quake, scientists from Nasa and the California Institute of Technology’s joint rapid imaging project made a ground deformation map and measured changes in the island’s surface. In the northwest of the island near the epicentre, the rupturing fault line lifted the earth by a quarter of…
Gambling operators can expect requests for data for research into harm
Gambling companies operating in Britain will be asked to disclose more data to help inform research into harmful play.
Scottish licensing boards to be swamped by personal licence renewals
Scotland’s under-resourced licensing boards risk being swamped by the first round of applications to renew personal liquor licences since the new regime entered into force in 2009, an expert has warned.
IR 35 changes could have disproportionate impact on infrastructure and energy sectors
If the government decides to go ahead with proposed changes to the off-payroll working rules, this could have a “disproportionate impact” on existing projects in the infrastructure and energy sectors which are heavily reliant on contractors and temporary workers, according to Chris Thomas , an employment tax expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-law.com.
New Zealand to ban single-use plastic bags, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says
New Zealand will ban single-use plastic bags over the next year, the government has announced.
Shops in the country will be given six months to stop providing lightweight plastic bags or face fines of up to NZ$100,000 (US$66,400).
“We’re phasing out single-use plastic bags so we can better look after our environment and safeguard New Zealand’s clean, green reputation,” said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. “Every year in New Zealand we use hundreds of millions of…
EU measures to counteract US Iran sanctions take effect
ANALYSIS: The EU has updated its ‘Blocking’ Regulation, coinciding with the reinstatement of the first tranche of US secondary sanctions against Iran.
Thai monk who lived lavish lifestyle jailed for 114 years for money laundering, fraud and cybercrime
A Thai court sentenced a disgraced former monk to 114 years in prison on Thursday, a court official said, more than a year after he was extradited from the US.
Wiraphon Sukphon made headlines in 2013 when footage emerged of him wearing designer aviator sunglasses with a Louis Vuitton bag on a private jet.
The 39-year-old fled to the US but was sent back after he was accused of raping a minor and deceiving donors who gave him money to build the world’s largest emerald Buddha image.
A…